


Made for each other

by velocitygrass



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Kid/Teen AU, M/M, OC POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-10
Updated: 2006-11-10
Packaged: 2017-10-18 12:31:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/188912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velocitygrass/pseuds/velocitygrass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She remembered all of the kids that went to her kindergarten, but John and Rodney had a special place in her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Made for each other

She liked John from the beginning. He seemed shy, one hand clutching the much bigger one of his father, the other tightly gripping a toy plane. His dark hair was unruly, which stood in contrast to his rather serious face.

She watched as John listened attentively to his father. Mr. Sheppard explained that he would be back to pick him up later that day and that he was sure John would like it here with the other kids. Then he kissed John on the forehead and told him that if he needed him, he could call him. John didn't take his eyes off his father when he left with a last smile.

She knew that the first day was often difficult. She'd had her fair share of crying and screaming, first when the parents left and then later when they came to pick their kids up, because so often by then they didn't want to leave. John didn't scream or cry, though. Once his father was out of sight, he looked up at her, both hands firmly around his toy plane.

"Would you like to meet the other children now?" she asked, smiling.

John hesitated a second, then said "Yes, ma'am". It made her falter for a moment, because even in a relatively small town like theirs, children weren't so polite and formal anymore. But John was different she could see.

She introduced John to everyone and he nodded at everyone and when someone smiled, John smiled back. When she introduced him to Rodney, Rodney looked up from his drawing, let his gaze sweep from John's face down until he saw the toy plane, then he resumed his work. John frowned and she almost wanted to tell him not to be bothered. Rodney was a bit peculiar when it came to whom and how he associated himself with. But he'd find that out quickly enough, so she continued the round of introductions.

She was happy to see that John soon made friends. He liked to draw by himself or play with his toy plane, but when other kids invited him to join, he usually did. He was quiet and friendly. Sometimes when a child looked alone, not daring to join a group of others, he would go to them and ask them to play with him. He had a way with people that appealed to both the wild and the quiet ones, the popular ones and the outsiders.

And yet she felt that he looked most content when he played alone. It made her appreciate even more that he made an effort to be part of the group and to integrate himself so well, so quickly. Most other kids liked him and those that didn't at least respected him and he got along well with the others. She had expected this from the beginning. John was the kind of kid that had learned to fit in.

What she didn't expect was that Rodney would take a liking to John.

Rodney was in many ways the exact opposite of John. He didn't seem to have any notion of how he could make others feel with his insults. He'd made a few of the other kids cry at one point or another and even the others didn't like Rodney very much. Rodney lost interest in things quickly or became so engrossed that he wanted to take everything over completely. Where John was the perfect team player, Rodney could destroy any group by insulting one half and bossing around the other.

She had to admit that he was very intelligent. He read books and built complex machines, when most of his peers couldn't even read. But the way he treated others made things unnecessarily difficult for him. She could see that even though he felt superior to the other children, he was hurt when they wouldn't let him play with them or ignored him.

When she first saw Rodney talking to John, she thought he'd simply found someone who was willing to put up with him and wasn't easily insulted. She decided to keep an eye on them, because she knew that Rodney had a tendency to upset others even if he didn't intend to. But when she looked more closely, she realized that Rodney actually liked talking to John.

He would show him his pictures and explain. And John wasn't simply too polite to tell Rodney to leave him alone as she'd first thought. Even when he was drawing and not looking at Rodney while Rodney talked animatedly, she could see that he started smiling at Rodney's words sometimes and made suggestions that made Rodney stop and either talk even more animatedly or rush to get some paper and draw some more.

She also noticed that John tried to include Rodney in their group, but unlike with others it wasn't impersonal. He wanted Rodney to really engage in the games. In fact the first time she heard John call anyone names, it was when he called Rodney a moron. Rodney called him a triple-moron and then they were both grinning and playing again.

She began to get the strong sense that they belonged together even before John became really angry one day, when some kids started yelling at Rodney for always bossing them around. They told him that nobody wanted him anyway and John gave them a glare and told them to shut up. Then he went to Rodney and watched him draw plans for one of his machines for the rest of the day, giving him his undivided attention.

One day John lost his toy plane and he was terribly upset. It was given to him by his mother and when they had looked everywhere, John became nearly hysterical, telling them he had to find it. Rodney then took John aside and told him that they'd find it. The plane had to be somewhere, it couldn't have vanished into thin air and he wouldn't rest until he found it. Then he put his arms around John and told him that he'd make him a bigger much better airplane if he'd stop being so upset and helped him look for it.

It wasn't that Rodney was emotionless. He could be hurt and angry if others teased him and beam with pride when they admired him. But she had never before seen him so invested in somebody else's misery. She had never seen him compassionate about someone else before.

When Rodney eventually found the plane, John was so happy he hugged Rodney and kissed him on the cheek. Rodney blushed but grinned and looked very smug for the rest of the day. In the weeks after that Rodney made good on his promise and the two of them could be seen working on a plane almost every day.

She remembered all of the kids that went to her kindergarten, but John and Rodney had a special place in her heart. They were interesting individuals, but together they became something so much bigger. They were good for each other. They were better when they were together. They completed each other. She had a feeling that they belonged together. And she hoped their friendship would last forever because friendship like this was a rare gift.

They started school together. Rodney was one year younger, but smart enough and eager to start early.

She was quite sad the day they left, but she told herself that it wasn't the last time she'd see them. It was a small town after all.

She did see them often after that. Sometimes she'd see them when they were out with their parents. But she was even happier when she saw them together, playing after school or working on some project together.

One of their projects made the papers of their little town when one evening a rocket rose from the old trash yard over half the town before exploding in bright lights. She'd seen it from her porch and immediately thought of them. Her first reaction was to admire that once again they managed to create something so astounding and beautiful together.

Her second reaction was fear that someone might take this as a reason to separate them. She couldn't bear the thought. Fortunately nobody was hurt, so they were only grounded and made to pick up trash around town for a week. She saw them and told them that she thought the rocket had been quite impressive even if she hoped that they had learned to get permission first the next time. She suggested making something for the fair in summer and their eyes lit up at that and she could hear them starting to plan even as she left.

Rodney skipped his second year of high school and she wondered if that would change anything between them. John didn't seem like the kind of person to be resentful about something like that, especially not with Rodney, but things were different in high school. And as much as she liked Rodney, she wouldn't put it entirely beyond him to forget about John once he was one of the older guys and as such by default one level higher in the complicated hierarchy that dictated teenage life.

But she was glad to see that she was wrong. She could still see them hanging out together and for the fair they presented extraordinary fireworks as they had the year before.

She couldn't quite explain it to herself, but somehow it seemed very important to her to know that they were still friends. They gave her hope somehow. She was still single, but thinking about John and Rodney she thought that maybe there was someone out there for her, too, even if not in the strictest sense like John and Rodney.

She began worrying again when she saw Rodney in a café one day. He was with a girl, eating ice-cream from her cup and she was smiling at him. Of course this was the test that all friendships had to face. When one or both of them fell in love and suddenly they weren't the most important person in each other's life anymore.

This time her fears weren't alleviated. She saw the three of them at the carnival a month later. Rodney was holding the girls hand while talking to John. Then the girl pulled at his arm and whispered something in his ear and Rodney looked at John and John smiled and shook his head in the direction the girl was pulling Rodney. But even from where she was standing she could see that the smile he had given Rodney was the one he used when he was being nice.

She'd never seen John smile at Rodney that way before. It broke her heart.

She didn't see them together for a while after that. Then, spring the following year, she saw the girl with another boy and she was ashamed at the relief that she felt. Of course it didn't necessarily mean anything. She had no idea how much John and Rodney's friendship had been damaged by this episode. She didn't even know if it had suffered at all beyond what she had directly witnessed. Maybe they had always stayed best friends. But maybe they weren't talking to each other at all anymore, passing each other in the halls as if they were strangers.

She was incredibly relieved when she saw them walking down the street together not long after that. She smiled and greeted them probably a bit too enthusiastically. They grinned at her and gave each other looks before continuing their way. She forced herself to only look after them once and couldn't shake the feeling that even though they still seemed to be friends something had changed.

She continued to notice that there seemed to be a tension between them whenever she saw them out together, walking or sitting in a café. She wondered if Rodney had another girlfriend, or maybe John, but she never saw them alone with another girl. She was also pleased to see that the tension between them didn't seem to be awkward for them. They seemed quite content with the way things were. So she was happy, too.

When they presented their by now annual firework that year, she watched the two of them when everyone else's eyes turned to the sky. They looked at each other, then John nodded and took Rodney's hand. Her heart leaped in her chest at the sight and she longed to see what she knew, had somewhere deep inside always known, would come next.

Rodney leaned over and they kissed. She could hear the mumble in the crowd, quiet and not so quiet whispering instead of the oohs and aahs and she wanted to shut them all up, because couldn't they see that what John and Rodney had was the most beautiful thing two people could share.

The light of the last rocket faded and instead of the applause that usually followed there was dead silence. She didn't even think about it when she started clapping as loudly as she could. She was never quite sure if they saw who it was that had started clapping that night, but it worked and soon others joined in and celebrated the fireworks as John and Rodney deserved.

For her however it was a much more important celebration. It was the celebration of two people who were made for each other. She was glad that she had seen them come such a long way and hoped that whenever she saw or heard about them in the future, they'd still be together. Because that was the way it should be.


End file.
